Hiya!

Is it weird how excited I am for Grand Theft Auto VI? Like most gamers, I’m familiar with how this open sandbox of a game allows you to do a whole lot of things and just how high quality they are. The thing is, I’ve never any of the story campaigns of any Grand Theft Auto game before. I have played Grand Theft Auto Online before but that was when I was basically a neophyte in the gaming world. I was basically looking for something to kind of quench my appetite for something like PlayStation Home, which I loved to bits! It never did because, back then, I just wanted the social element and not much of the whole robbing people and jacking cars element. So, while I played it for a good number of months, I did just go back to PlayStation Home.

Watching the Grand Theft Auto VI Extended Look preview Rockstar Games put out a few weeks ago did remind me, however, I still have a copy of Grand Theft Auto V. A good, honest-to-goodness physical copy of the game which PlayStation will never take away from me because I own it. That meant I can actually play Grand Theft Auto V, which actually came with Grand Theft Auto Online (or is that the other way around?) before I do play Grand Theft Auto VI! So, I dusted off my old PlayStation 3, hooked it up to my TV, put in my disc copy of Grand Theft Auto V and… waited for it to install. I kind of forgot how long these things would take for them to get put into my console’s hard drive. Still, I’m amazed it still works, aren’t you?

Anyway, after I stepped away and ate dinner, watched a couple of television dramas and other stuff (man, it really does take a while, huh?), I was ready to play my first ever official (kinda) Grand Theft Auto game in Grand Theft Auto V… after I plug my old PlayStation 3 controller in because the battery doesn’t seem to be charging up anymore! Once I do, I’m ready to play!

So, like I said, I’ve never played the Story campaign for any of Rockstar Games’ older entries in the series. I’m going into Grand Theft Auto V almost virtually blind. I do remember watching my brother play its Story campaign all those years ago but the only thing I really remember about its story was how one of the main characters was tasked to torture someone. The only reason I retained that is because of how it became a major scandal and news outlets were reporting on this. I haven’t reached that point in my playthrough yet but I really am curious how I’ll personally react to that. That being said, I’m still going in with nary a knowledge of what to expect.

The first thing which really hit me is how big Los Santos is. I do remember playing Grand Theft Auto Online and thinking how big it was back then. Now that I’m older and more attuned to paying attention, I guess I never really fully grasped how much area there is to discover because I went to all of the nooks and crannies of the city. I would just look around and drive around Los Santos and maybe wreck some havoc here and there. I didn’t really try doing a lot of the other available stuff like climbing ladders or shuffling over walls to see what’s beyond those areas. I would usually just tool around in my stolen vehicle and drive around because the driving was so fun.

So, imagine my surprise when I found out there’s more than just the city of Los Santos. It turns out I never left Los Santos while I played Grand Theft Auto Online. I stayed in the confines of the city and I never explored the greater state of San Andreas! I actually don’t remember my brother drive all the way to the desert outside Los Santos. Maybe because, when I was watching him play, he would just go drive around the city and not really proceed through the Story missions. I only saw how vast the state of San Andreas by accident as I was just following the freeway and, at a certain point, I realized I wasn’t in the city anymore. This is when I opened the map and saw how far I was from civilization! I knew Grand Theft Auto V was big but I never got to appreciate how big it was until now! I can definitely see why fans are impressed with the amount of stuff to see and explore now!

As of right now, I believe I’m only around 1/3 through the game’s Story but that does mean I’ve already unlocked all of the main characters: Michael De Santa, Franklin Clinton and, last but definitely not least, Trevor Philips. As of this moment, I would say my least favorite character among the three is Michael De Santa. That’s mainly because he just seems like the most boring character but that does seem to be by design. He’s a guy who managed to get out of the crime business and, while he still has, shall we say, criminal tendencies, he tries to keep a low profile. As such, he’s stuck in a loveless marriage with a philandering wife, a lazy wannabe gangster of a son and a trollop of a daughter who just wants to be famous. Things do get interesting when he does dip his toe back into the life when he meets up with Franklin Clinton but, as of right now, he doesn’t come off as all that interesting.

Speaking of which, my favorite character has to be Franklin Clinton. A former gangbanger who strives to be more than just that, he tries multiple times to live a legit life while also moonlighting as a criminal who’s tired of the “nickel and dime” stickup jobs. Even so, he does stick up for his friends, even if his friends try to drag him back into the hood life. I do like him the best because, although he’s still a hardened criminal who doesn’t have qualms of killing people when necessary (or when paid), he still has a heart of gold. I mean, he helped his crackhead friends on their towing job even though he didn’t get paid for the work!

Franklin also has the best Special Ability among the Grand Theft Auto V protagonists, in my opinion. His special ability allows him to slow down time while driving and, while the slowdown is active, he’s able to control his vehicle better as well. As this is a game involving a lot of grand theft of various automobiles, this has proven to be a really helpful ability. Also, since Franklin can choose to join street races, his Special Ability makes it pretty easy to corner during high speed turns, which in turn makes it much easier to win races.

I’m a little torn when it comes to Trevor Philips. He’s the most unhinged of the trio and, initially, I did not like playing as him. He comes off as a huge bully who gets what he wants through violence. He also kills indiscriminately, leading to his Rampage special missions. I was so eager to get back to playing either Michael or Franklin because I really detested Trevor Philips. However, as I was forced to keep on playing as him (since both Michael and Franklin were locked out), the more I did like him. There is something about his confidence and his drive to be the biggest criminal enterprise of the outskirts of San Andreas which does make him endearing in a weird way. I still have qualms playing as him but I’m slowly getting over my aversion.

Another aspect of Trevor Philips’ demented personality actually makes it somewhat difficult to play as him as there are random events where you can help the citizens of Los Santos and the greater San Andreas. I mean, why would a crazy psychopath go ahead and help them? Well, in my headcanon, Trevor actually sees himself as a nice guy so he’s still going to help them when he can. However, if they’re jerks, well, he’ll have no reason to keep them alive or feed you to a bunch of cannibals… for a price, of course.

I will say there are aspects of Grand Theft Auto V which took me a while to get used to. I’m fine with the driving… as long as I have a fast car. If you give me a clunker, getting to one place to another feels like a slog. Thankfully, I’ve noticed a lot of the areas do have “optimal” vehicles. In Los Santos, it easy to find a decent enough car in any parking lot until you can “procure” a faster one, which shouldn’t take too long. Out in the deserts of San Andreas, things can be a little tougher but as long as you get to a road, you can snipe out a driver and get their vehicle, which would usually be something like an off-road bike or an ATV. Even with that, getting to some of the very far off destinations can get boring, even if you have a super fast vehicle. Maybe there’s a fast travel option which I don’t know about but, at the same time, I wouldn’t want to use it because I would miss out on some dialogue between the characters.

What I’m really struggling with so far is the shooting and combat. Shooting comes off as a little too accurate and aiming with that little dot of a targeting reticule can be a pain. So, bullets will just whiz by an enemy’s head if I’m just a pixel off while my enemies are picking me off with pinpoint accuracy! I also have a hard time doing drivebys and shooting while in a vehicle because the controls. Usually, the Fire button is the R2 or Right Trigger but, since this becomes the Accelerate button while in a car, it doesn’t work that way. The R1 or Right Bumper becomes the Fire button in these cases. It just feels really awkward and I kind of wish Rockstar Games made it so, when you go into firing mode while in a car, the vehicle’s acceleration becomes whatever it was before you entered shooting mode, freeing up the R2/Right Trigger button to shoot. That’s just me as I have to rewire my brain each time I try a driveby.

My favorite part has to be the Heists. Well, I only was involved in one Heist so far, which is the initial jewelry store robbery. Still, I loved how you have to plan it out and how Rockstar Games gives you the choice on how to attack it. As this was Michael’s plan, I decided to do what I think he would do and be all sneaky about it and forego brute force. If I do have one where Trevor plans one, I’m going for the brute force route because that’s what he would do, right?

So far, I am having fun with Grand Theft Auto V. While I can’t really say I’m enjoying the actual story, I am enjoying the experience of it all. There is indeed something fun about all the things you can do and I do feel I’ve only scratched the surface of what Rockstar Games built into the game. Heck, with the way things are going, I’m not entirely sure I’ll be finished with this before Grand Theft Auto VI!

Byee!

What was your experience with Grand Theft Auto V’s Story mode like? Let me know in the comments section below!